The Role of Health Care Providers in the Prevention of Overweight and Type 2 Diabetes in Children and Adolescents

In Brief In the midst of the global obesity epidemic, health care providers face the daunting challenge of prevention. Because of the complex interaction between the environment and genetics, individualized care plans for prevention and treatment of emerging premorbid and comorbid conditions must be formulated by a multidisciplinary team that ideally embraces the entire community in the promotion and maintenance of healthy lifestyles. Special attention must be given to multigenerational medical and psychosocial/spiritual history, coupled with a comprehensive physical and psychological (including family dynamics) assessment. The healing relationship between providers and patients can have a profound effect in encouraging sometimes radical lifestyle modifications, which can only be achieved by motivating and empowering children in the context of the family and community in which they live.